The Start of My Findings Range

[amazingbabe]

I think they're lovely
I'm interested in perceptions on this one, as I'm now making a fair range of findings, and am about to add them to my website. I've actually found they sell well, provided they're things that people either can't make themselves, or can't be bothered to! You do need to make sure you can reflect the amount of time they take in the price though, which might be harder to do in copper than silver perhaps. That said, there's a huge demand for pure copper findings (rather than the ubiquitous copper plated), so they could do very well for you if you can find the right market.

Good luck!

I'm with you on this one George as i'm in the i can't be bothered range and just love to buy my findings and it would be nicer again to buy them from another jewellery designer and maker xxx Sterling silver anyone ??? Georgeous findings dragon , hope they go well for you .....

[Di Sandland]

You might be right George, thinking about it. Just can't make my mind up.

Would I buy your findings? Yes - especially the toggles, which I have neither the time nor the inclination to make myself.

So p'raps I'm wrong Annie - I was thinking purely in terms of return for investment of time. And perhaps its the copper angle - copper is perceived as being much cheaper than silver isn't it?

I dunno - maybe do a poll or something as a bit of market research? Perahps those of us who have active blogs (mine is very inactive ) could help with polls too?

[amazingbabe]

George your toggles are amazing !!!!!!!!!!! So depending on price your potential customers might be right here with you

[Trudy]

I would happily buy copper findings from you, theyre lovely!

I see it a bit like buying lampwork beads - I would love to be able to make them myself but unfortunately do not have the space for this kind of equipment (or the skills) and think it is very unlikely that I will do in the near future. I do like to make a lot of the components for jewellery if I can but when I dont have the tools or ability to do something I would much rather buy these kinds of things from another artist, handmade, than mass produced ones.

[snow_imp]

I'm with Trudy on this one.

I keep trying to make my own findings, but find them so fiddly to do, and I'm not sure I've actually got the ability to "make" from scratch - I enjoy putting together items that other people have made so that may be where my forte lies.

I love the idea of being able to buy silver and copper findings that I know have been made by artists I admire.

Yes, price comes into it, but then I'd rather spend a little more for an artist's work than cheapen a piece with factory made or my own (at the moment poor) efforts.

Sorry about the essay - it appears I do feel more strongly about this than I thought I did.

[caroleallen]

That all sounds very encouraging and I don't mind admitting that I might be wrong. Good luck with them, they really are lovely.

[lorraineflee]

Okay, I'm convinced too - I hope you do really well with them - they are lovely!

Lorraine

[AlexandraBuckle]

I'm not sure I would buy decorative bits like leaves and flowers as I like to make these myself. I do buy boring things like ear wires and bails though.

They are lovely leaves - good luck with them and let us know how you get on!

[Petal]

You might be right George, thinking about it. Just can't make my mind up.

Would I buy your findings? Yes - especially the toggles, which I have neither the time nor the inclination to make myself.

So p'raps I'm wrong Annie - I was thinking purely in terms of return for investment of time. And perhaps its the copper angle - copper is perceived as being much cheaper than silver isn't it?

I dunno - maybe do a poll or something as a bit of market research? Perahps those of us who have active blogs (mine is very inactive ) could help with polls too?

Have you done much research on this? What would you price your items at? I think as George says, there is a market for this type of thing, but think its very much focussed on price and quality. The quality is def. there, but I'd be inclined to do more research before you start producing loads of them, lovely as they are!

Good luck with it!

[The Dragon]

Thank you so much for your input and making an informal start to my market research.

The idea of providing findings was always going to be an addition to my jewellery making, indeed the leaves pictured are for a project I'm finishing off. But when I was looking at suppliers for potential findings to see if it would be cheaper than making them myself the availability was disappointing to say the least.

I know that copper is preceived to be the poor relation to Silver and Gold but, as with all things, comes back into and then goes out of fashion. If you think about it there are people out there who look down their noses at silver thinking it's cheap and tacky (a lot of the mass porduced stuff is responsible for that) or just because it's not gold or platinum. Our products are not sold purely on the metal used but because they are unique, handcrafted pieces to a very high standard. Again it is preception and how we sell the 'product' to the customer.

The second part is about the pleasure that simply making gives me. It is one of the few things that takes me out of myself and allows me to block out the 'treadmill' stuff. I've come up with a couple of ideas that those leaves could be used for but if I gave 15 of you each a set of leaves to use you would come up with 15 different ideas that I would never have thought of. How amazing is that, something that started out as a tiny piece of clay on my workroom table in Nottingham is now part of a fabulous design in another part of the country.

Gosh who would have thought I would get so passionate about a little tiny leaf. You'll have to excuse me, at my age it takes a while to climb down off my soapbox!